Synopsis: A US-UK co-mission into space to investigate the passing
Hailey's Comet, on the space shuttle Churchill, encounters an alien spaceship, bringing back on board three humanoids housed in
crystal cases. They turn out to be space vampires, the beautiful female of
the three (Mathilda May) awaking and
escaping from a British space facility. It is up to Col. Colin Caine (Peter Firth) and the only surviving
member of the Churchill Col. Tom Carlsen (Steve
Railsback), the later connected psychically to the female vampire, to
prevent them at least decimating London.

From http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cvJcysBrcZg/Tzl1FrWK59I/AAAAAAAAJWI/ewHknzkT7gw/s1600/lifeforce3.jpg

I'm a Tobe Hooper fan. This means not only liking The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Poltergeist (1982) and Salem's
Lot (1979), but willing to put up defences to other films or even admitting
to liking them. The common conception is that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre happened and after that everything went
downhill, which is what a Hooper fan
like myself will strongly disagree with. For starters, not only was there a
film before as his debut Eggshells (1969),
but there are a strong number of films, already mentioned, that stand out in
his career. I won't disagree with the fact that, honestly, he suffered over the
decades but I will defend a film like Spontaneous
Combustion (1990), and even a film as bad as Crocodile (2000) is strangely watchable and certainly couldn't
dismiss the quality of an older work like Eaten
Alive (1977).

From http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UCZ8Tp6jtPg/UcMwz2RUT_I/AAAAAAAAOC8/mHdDz_ZUp58/s1600/LF03.JPG

The three film deal with Cannon Films should've be the best
moment in Tobe Hooper's career, when Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus gave him carte blanche for three movies, but I feel it's
the moment where his career would be drastically affected from then on.
Unfortunately while an exceptional sequel that gets better the more I watch it,
The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) didn't do well because people were
excepting the same as the first film and its graphic gore would've severely
limited its potential audience. I've yet to see Invaders From Mars (1986) and the original fifties film, but Hooper's remake didn't succeed either.
Finally there's Lifeforce, the most
expensive Cannon Films production
and not a box office success either. It was a film with a hellish production
history including going over budget and having a shorter US theatrical cut said
to be incomprehensible. Viewing this film for the first time, in its longer
International cut, it had been built up with a reputation good and bad of a
bizarre folly.

From http://postmodernbarney.com/images08/lifeforce.jpg

The result is a b-movie sci-fi
flick, literally a sexed up Quatermass,
set in contemporary Britain including very notorious amounts of nudity from Mathilda May and gore. The b-movie is
capable of rich material, but the stereotype is that of a movie which is lean
in the content around the plot, minimal in anything barring the essentials like
thrills, and hopefully has charm, charisma and maybe excellent technical
virtues. Lifeforce is definitely one
of those sort of films, not a philosophical work though analogies can be
suggested. "Pulp" is apt, and as well as updating films like The Day That Stood Still (1951) into a
lurid interpretation, it also possesses undeniably opulent production design
and special effects. If there's a potential issue with this film's story, it's
not the danger of incomprehensibility but when it confuses its sense of scale.
A large middle portion of its length is the hunt for the female vampire but, to
limit the spoilers immensely, this becomes a red herring and, rather than an Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956),
it becomes an elaborate disaster film in the ending.

From http://www.containsmoderateperil.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Lifeforce-1.jpg

Technical Details:

If Lifeforce shows off anything, its pride as a British film viewer at
the work of countless special effect and production designers, though when you
have people who worked on the likes of James Bond films to Star Wars, that's not a surprise. Adding to this is optical effects
from the best of the USA, hired during the protracted production shoot, adding
a further and peculiar air to Lifeforce.
A great deal of why Lifeforce is
able to work is because of this production design, filling out and adding
character to the story. When the astronauts of space shuttle Churchill enter
the alien spaceship, its actors are in accurate spacesuits floating on wires,
travelling through a complex full scale set with bat humanoid husks dangling in
mid-air in an environment designed by someone with a fixation on anatomy
diagrams. When the vampires take action, sucking the literal life-force rather
than blood physical substances, you get into a zombie subplot where animatronic
dread husks that still look great today try to suck the life-force from a
bystander in a vicious continuous cycle like a chain letter.

When the film becomes more of an
end of the world scenario, it becomes more of a standard zombie breakout with a
lot more exploding double decker buses. But there is still a consistency in
production even if the film has skipped through various forms of sci-fi. The biggest
advantage to this, not just the incredible craft and hard work, is that they
add further personality rather than merely completing scenes left. In this case
the spectacle not only stands out whether one feels Lifeforce has any worth or not, but despite the confusion it does
keep a consistent tone for the film. It's a very physical narrative. Alongside
a lot of nudity and explicit sexuality, there's also a level of the corporal
and kink that you don't see a lot in other science fiction the production
emphasises. It's apt the alien spaceship looks like a H.R. Gigar designed dildo with an umbrella at the end. The crystal
cases the space vampires sleep in are as sleek and alluring as the figures
sleeping in them. The optical for the sucked out life-force adds a great deal
of colour and the ethereal to the content, and even something as gruesome as a
vampire reforming from a victim's blood has a sensuality and a surrealness not
just from the actress involving in the scene.

From http://bmoviebffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/LIfeforce-1985-still.jpg

The cast adds gravitas that also
helps immensely. While Steve Railsback
is good for a shell shocked lead, and Mathilda
May shows bravery in willing to walk around sets completely naked, the real
weight, not just a bias of mine for fellow countrymen, is from the British
character actors. The decision to set the film in Britain stands out, a
different tone in the British stiff upper lip and quirks adding to the content,
Hooper's desire to make a "70mm
Hammer" movie paying off. I admit to being very cold many times to my
country's genre output but I could never dismiss the quality of the acting. Aubrey Morris as Sir Percy Heseltine who
tags along being unnerved by what he witnesses. Frank Finlay as the main scientist trying to find a preventative
cause against the vampires. Patrick
Stewart in a memorable role in one of the oddest scenes which included his
first onscreen kiss, the least expected you could have in cinema. While Steve Railsback has a significant role
as a person haunted in his dreams by an alluring female vampire, its Peter Firth whose the lead, the tough
no-nonsense SAS officer who yet, because of the actor, does show moments of
horror and disbelief even if he gets the job done. As much as one would wish
for the alternative version of this film with Klaus Kinski in Frank Finlay's
role, credibility to the film is mostly from the cast, able to make the
more absurd plot narration and dialogue have tangibility to it.

From http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6v6zr6Lsh1rae5vno1_1280.jpg

Abstract Spectrum: Psychotronic; Pulp

Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None

One of the best aspects of Tobe Hooper's films is their delirious
tones. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is
as much iconic from its soundtrack and pace as well as for Leatherface, while
the sequel's change to comedy managed to amplify the content further. Films
that would've been muted in tone depending on who directed them have a manic
tone that is his trademark. The Funhouse
(1981) ramping up its tone by its end, Eaten
Alive with sets and bold coloured lighting Hooper was forced with when on-location shooting was impossible,
even a film like The Mangler (1995)
with its expressionist tone and Robert
Englund's maniacal performance. This is why I've never believed in the
theory Steven Spielberg directed Poltergeist, because while moments do
show the fact he helped in the production, the intensity of certain scenes is
far from Spielberg even at his most
ghoulish. Lifeforce in hindsight to
this should be as heightened in tone, especially with its reputation and what
the narrative is about.

From http://www.rotaryaction.com/images/lifeforce1.jpg

It's disappointing to say, for
its virtues, Lifeforce is one of the
least delirious films in his CV despite its reputation. It's likely the US cut
cemented that reputation, the film very much a straightforward sci-fi
narrative. Hooper usually has a
heightened, exaggerated tone to his work that's not present here. The Quatermass reference is apt because,
while the plot ideas are elaborate and the ending is fitting a Cannon Films production, the film is
methodically paced and avoids very off-kilter ideas. Moments undoubtedly show Hooper's trademark, such as the exorcism
of Patrick Stewart, but for most of
the film's length it's pulp updated for a more mature audience.

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Personal Opinion:

But that doesn't stop me from
enjoying the film. It's a romp that, despite its production history and tonal
shifts, never deteriorates in structure. Any sense of real disappointment is
more in my preference in lesser known films like The Funhouse. The strength of the production, one of the few times
where I see it as a huge virtue, unlike where even an Indiana Jones film can leave me cold, really helped protect Lifeforce from the problems that were
taking place in plotting. And I can't help, relishing flag waving for once, but
feel pride that this was definitely a British production as well as an American
one.

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"I could go on for hours with more examples. The list is endless. You probably never gave it a thought, but all great films, without exception, contain an important element of no reason. And you know why? Because life itself is filled with no reason." - Rubber (2010)

About Me

I am 28 years old and hail from England. For the last few years I have been a growing fan of cinema and have decided to take the next step into blogging about it and any other tangents that about the things I'm interested in I get onto.